All these things that I have done

So! We have actually moved back into our new house. The only room that is anything like properly unpacked right now is the kitchen, which is only missing one vital box of cutlery (annoyingly). And, I suppose, the bathroom, in that it doesn't need much unpacking! Still, the new shower is pretty damn cool! Upstairs, the carpets don't go down until next week and there's some stuff like lights in our room and touch up painting which still need to be done so we haven't moved much in but we have put up the first lot of shelves and the supports for the next lot of shelves in library (which is going to be hella cool) and unpacked some boxes of books just so that people can tell it's our house :)

The kitchen/garden room set up looks amazing - great light, lovely kitchen, and I love the way the doors out onto the garden work and look. Again, there's lots of finishing off that needs doing down here (skirting boards, door handles, downstairs loo pipework) but it's looking good. It's been so long since we've been allowed to live here that I feel kind of illicit sitting around in the dining room typing! It'll feel more like we're back when the furniture comes back out of the lock up, which it will hopefully do during the course of next week.

The builders reckon they'll be done by the end of this week. I think it's more likely to be the week after, given the amount of little things that need doing, but that still means that we can totally have an extension warming party at half term. As such, consider this your invitation - mark your diaries for the Sunday 29th May - BBQ and cocktails at our place, woe betide anyone who makes a mess of my new worktops! We will provide the spirits as we have tonnes of it (except for triple sec for some reason) but you should feel free to bring any or all of the following; other booze or non booze drinkables, unusual mixers and BBQables. I feel glam and am therefore declaring this a Dress Up party - wear something beautiful. Interpret that how you will :)

Am at in service training with Pie Corbett. Am not sure it is worth all the money we're being charged for it really. It's OK but not much surprising in there really. It's not not knowing this stuff, it's the time and energy to do it full on all the time. It's really sunny outside and I find myself thinking wistfully abouut blowing off the afternoon and going and sitting in the park and reading. Sadly, there are other teachers from my school here so I don't think I'll get away with it but I can dream :)

House seems to be taking for ever. I don't think it's anyone being slow, just I can't wait for it all to be done. Chose paint colours yesterday but still haven't actually ordered the appliances. Might do that now while I've got wifi.

So, post! Many things have happened in the past couple of months that I haven't managed to post about. I was intending to write a bit more this year, both here and fiction, but I haven't because of basically two things. Thing one is that I seem to have been sick to a greater or lesser extent since Jan 1st. I picked up a cough from somewhere, held onto that for a while, got the vomiting bug while at the doctors having the cough checked out and then got a real streaming flu-ey cold plus new cough just when it looked like the old one was going away. Am finally starting to feel like a real girl again and am really hoping that half term will mean that I can actually manage to recover properly.

The other thing is the extension. We were warned that it would be very disruptive and they weren't wrong! I hadn't really realised how unsettling I would find it to have bits disappearing from my house while I was living in it and so on but it really was. Or, in fact, how annoying it would be to have everything gritty underfoot all the time - I gave up on hoovering about three weeks ago because the layer of grit was back just as deep in a day. It is very exciting and everything but boy am I glad we've reached the point where we have to move out so the electricians can do things and stuff. We're at my parents for half term week and then angharad and Tristan are sheltering us for March while they move the bathroom and redo the kitchen and so on. We have managed to move almost all of our possessions into the builder's lockup garage for storage and filled it up to the brim. I'm sure we seem to have twice as many books and I have twice as many clothes as when we moved into that house.

The cats are staying in situ so that they can guard the house for us and because they hate moving anywhere. That's the only downside - fewer cat strokes. Still, it's only a month. Just you wait for the BBQ parties in summer!

OMG YOU GUYS!!! I HAVE NO CONSERVATORY ANY MORE! SERIOUSLY! PICS TO FOLLOW!

So, an update. It's been a while since I did a proper one of those. Not sure why - have been rather quiet/shy online lately for no particularly good reason.

Had a meeting with the architect this lunchtime to check some stuff about the boiler, which will have to be moved as part of the building work, annoyingly. Aparently, we can have it downstairs even if the bathroom is upstairs which sounds weird to me, but far be it from me to contradict the architect (actually, even if this turns out to be untrue, there is somewhere sensible we can put it so I'm not worried). We have now sent off our paperwork for buildings regs and I have to start asking around for quotes from builders. This is rather scary as then the cost of the project will actually start to become real. Yikes!

Ended up having a very quiet weekend as white_hart and topicaltim were in no state to come over for Sunday lunch. It was quite nice, actually, though. Alex and I played a co-op career in GHIII, me on medium rhythm (relaxing :)) and him on easy bass (first time) so that when Rock Band comes out we'll be in practice. Actually, I wonder if I could pick up a copy while I'm in the states - will it work on a UK PS2 if I do that? Mind you, strikes me as something that it would be tricky to get onto the flight home :)

I just love watching Relocation, Relocation. I love looking at what other people do with their houses. I love this house, particularly this living room; I really need to get on with doing the work I want to do here. I ought to at least get our bedroom finished - it's really close, after all.

We had a builder round this evening to talk about the whole extension thing and give some very rough ball park figures. He's a friend of a friend apparently and actually lives on our road, both of which are great recommendations and actually, we really hit it off. It made me feel much more hopeful about the project as a whole - I think we could manage it, although we'd be pushing things. It'd be worth it though.

Squee! Emailed an architect and got an actual response and now have arranged a meeting for Monday after we get home from Norfolk. The extension project may be on it's way!

So, as my brief post from yesterday indicated I plan to make a post per day to my LJ this year. It will be interesting to see how that survives contact with (for example) Glastonbury but it's worth a shot. I reserve the right to do 2 word posts on slow days though :)

Looking back at last year's resolutions, I'm not doing too badly there. The routine thing started well but didn't really stick but up until the last month I would have said I'd got a lot better at making sure things didn't slip through the net. Still worth working on that one. All the others have actually been pretty much achieved, which is a nice thought.

This year is going to be the big party so of course I want to organise that and see it go sucessfully. I want to pass my OU course and choose my next one. I want to find out how feasible it would be to start a Guide company and, if possible, get it going. I want to keep more on top of the housework and keep the house looking nice all year round. I want to make better use of the time between getting home from work and when we eat (which has expanded this year as Alex gets home much later than me). I want to start playing my violin again (possibly in the early evening time) and to pass on my cello to someone who will actually get use out of it as, much as I love it, I just don't play it. I want to commission the extension from an architect

I also want to do something about my weight but I'm hesitant about making that an actual resolution because I currently feel rather powerless about the whole thing. I haven't found any strategies in the whole of my period of trying to lose weight (about 5 years now) which I've been able to maintain in the long term. Still, I do plan to go back to my doctor this year and see if she can make any suggestions for what I could do. I also plan to go to the gym after work for a workout once a week. That will need to be straight after work as my gym membership only allows entry until 5:30 and I find lunchtimes are not long enough for me to do a proper workout on the machines. I should be able to find at least one evening per week though. I also plan to cycle to work as much as possible - Fridays are out because of Brownies but other than that only heavy rain or the combination of a strong wind with a very heavy cold (as then I can't breathe enough) are allowed to deter me. Fingers crossed, I guess!